We love cornbread with its buttery, grainy texture, and this golden, delicious, southern American – and vegan – version is the latest favorite in our home. This is a gluten-free cornbread, made with cornmeal only, and I use vegan yogurt to create a quick buttermilk that gives the bread amazing flavor and adds in some moisture. The cornbread is otherwise free of any added fats except the cooking spray (or tiny bit of oil) needed to coat the skillet. This cornbread is the last of the triumvirate of dishes I am sharing with you for New Year’s Day when eating these foods is considered lucky, including my vegan Hoppin’ John and vegan Collard Greens. All of these dishes are as healthy as they are delicious to give you the perfect start for the new year. If you try them, be sure to come back and let me know!
Making southern vegan cornbread from scratch
Cornbread is one of the easiest recipes you can put together. All you need to do is stir up the ingredients in one bowl, pour them into an oven-safe skillet or baking dish, and bake it up. If all goes smoothly, you should have hot, fluffy, tender cornbread in under 30 minutes. Cornbread should have a crusty exterior and a tender but moist interior. The way you get that crusty, golden exterior is by heating a cast iron skillet in a hot oven, adding oil to the skillet, and then pouring the batter into the hot skillet and baking rightaway. So always start your cornbread by heating the skillet in the oven. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet you can use a baking dish that’s 9 inches square.
Why is there no flour in this recipe?
While versions of corn bread made around the country have all purpose flour, Southern cornbread is usually made with cornmeal only, preferably stoneground. You can use white or yellow cornmeal, but cornstarch is not a good substitute. Not using flour also has the happy and inclusive effect of making this gluten-free. Check to get new recipe updates by email.
A vegan substitute for buttermilk
Southern corn bread uses buttermilk and eggs for the liquid component. For my vegan version I improvised by using my homemade, probiotic cashew yogurt and whisking it with water to make buttermilk. It works really well. If you don’t have vegan yogurt you can use 1 ½ cups of nondairy milk mixed with 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar. But I would recommend adding 2 tablespoon vegetable oil into the mix to add some moisture. To substitute the egg, I used aquafaba.
Adding fat
I deliberately kept this low in fat for the new year and its theme of eating healthy. But if you want a moister crumb add four tablespoons of melted vegan butter to the batter when you mix in the buttermilk and aquafaba.
Ingredients
Cornmeal, preferably stoneground. White or yellow are fine. Sugar Baking powder Baking soda Vegan yogurt Aquafaba Salt Cooking spray Optional: vegan butter
Recipe card
